For his first visit to the state in more than five years, President Barack Obama was greeted by a mixed bag of supporters and detractors.
Long before the his plane landed at McLaughlin Air National Guard Base, crowds began gathering on the East End of Charleston along Washington Street awaiting the president's arrival.
Throughout the morning and early afternoon, dozens of people began to line the motorcade route. Shortly after noon, on the north side of Washington Street across from the Capitol, a handful of people took to the sidewalk, holding signs in support for the legalization of marijuana.
The scene was significantly different than what was seen less than an hour earlier when about 75 people, including politicians and coal miners, gathered at the State Capitol Complex to express their frustrations with Obama.
The event, which was sponsored by the West Virginia Coal Forum, a publicly funded organization, featured comments from a variety of individuals, including Chris Hamilton, the organization's co-chairman, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.; state Senate president Bill Cole, R-Mercer; Speaker of the House of Delegates Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha; Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Rainey and coal miners.
Several other politicians, including Delegates Rupie Phillips, D-Logan, and John B. McCuskey, R-Kanawha, and state Sen. Daniel Hall, D-Wyoming, were in attendance.
There were multiple references to what Republicans have dubbed the president's "War on Coal" throughout the morning speeches. During his speech, Cole pointed to an August editorial in the Gazette-Mail that said the "War on Coal" was merely a "successful PR campaign."
"The evidence is very clear that there is a war on coal that is destroying West Virginia," Cole said. "With all due respect Mr. President, the thing that will help our families most is a job. A good job right here in West Virginia."
Discussing the president during his introductory remarks, Hamilton said, "His actions on our industry and our miners are so laced with callousness and an absolute hollow contempt for the men and women who mine coal.
"We're going to prevail," he added. "We're going to win the war on coal."
Capito, who was among those greeting Obama as he stepped off his plane and who would later join the president - along with U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. - for the president's forum at the Roosevelt Center, said she came to the rally in order to send a message to the president that the country needs policies that are not "wrecking our jobs, wrecking our economy."
"We need an all-of-the-above energy policy, and we need to look at the costs of his policies," Capito explained, while acknowledging that she respected the fact Obama was coming to West Virginia to discuss the opioid epidemic that has claimed thousands of lives.
As the various speakers addressed the audience, a handful of individuals waved handmade posters, including ones which read "Obama is not West Virginia's president," "Obama Your Change Destroyed Our Hope" and another that read "Don't Blame Me, I Voted For the American."
The speeches were peppered with a smattering of applause and cheers as the morning event continued.
Among the audience members were Boone County resident Daniel Belcher, who said he was there to protest the president.
"He's part of what's caused our drug problem," Belcher said of the president. "You take the jobs away from this state - well, what are you going to have? You're going to have crime and drugs. People have nothing else to turn to."
Dressed in a yellow and blue West Virginia University long-sleeve shirt, Joe Huff, of Chapmanville, said the chief executive's energy policies have made such a detrimental impact on the state that he is partially to blame for the drug epidemic.
"This president has been the most devastating president in my lifetime to the state of West Virginia," said Huff, who carried a sign that read, "Obama you're no Martin Luther King, get your Al Sharpton behind out of West Virginia."
The scene was markedly different than that which occurred as community members gathered near the Roosevelt Center in hopes of catching a glimpse of the president. While many were there for a simple sighting, others offered praise for Obama.
As members of the Secret Service and the Charleston Police Department lined the streets of Ruffner and Washington, the crowd began to grow ahead of the president's arrival.
When he finally arrived at the Roosevelt Center shortly before 2:30 p.m., those standing on the east side of Ruffner bellowed as the president exited his car while inside a massive white tent that was temporarily placed on the street.
Although Obama was only briefly visible through his car window, the crowd was buzzing from his mere presence.
Among those excited about his visit was Danita Holyfield, who traveled to Charleston from Clarksburg on Wednesday.
Holyfield said she believed it was important for her to come to Charleston because of her personal connection to opioid abuse. Two years ago, Holyfield's 20-year-old daughter, Tenisha, died of cardiac arrest after she struggled with drugs.
Holyfield, who has a tattoo of her daughter's face on her right arm, said she would like to see more of a one-on-one interaction with communities struggling with opioid abuse, instead of relying on police to combat the issue.
Holyfield also said she would like to see the state create more rehabilitation facilities.
"My daughter, we put her in rehab twice. We had to put her on a waiting list," Holyfield said, noting that by then her daughter's condition had significantly worsened.
Holyfield dismissed the coal industry's criticism of Obama, saying, "That's all in the wrong area. You should have been voicing that to the people who own the mines."
While she was critical of the fact that there weren't many people allowed into the opioid forum, Holyfield concluded, "It is a step towards the right direction."
Reach Joel Ebert at 304-348-4843, joel.ebert@dailymailwv.com, or follow @joelebert29 on Twitter.